1955 Gretsch 6121 Chet Atkins

This Gretsch 6121 was made in 1955, the first year of issue for what is quite possibly the most cowboy-themed guitar ever built. Just about every surface of this instrument is adorned in some sort of Western flair. The top is branded with a large G; the fretboard has engraved Western motifs like cacti and steer’s heads; and the sides are covered in tooled leather. This model even came with a tooled leather strap. That was a lot of work to put into a guitar that ultimately didn’t appeal to musicians who played cowboy music. Gretsch noticed the lack of cowboy action early on and in 1957 they dropped the engraved inlays, the G brand and the tooled leather, which I think is too bad because that turned a unique guitar into a boring brown version of the much hipper black Duo-Jet or the awesome Silver Jet. The 6121 was basically the solid body version of the far more popular 6120 Chet Atkins hollow body, the guitar that became the standard weapon for rockabilly players. The 6121 is a rare guitar overall, and this early version with the leather sides is extremely scarce, particularly in this condition. (This one even come with its original strap!) Consequently, they tend to sell for quite a bit when they do turn up. This example is selling for $18,500 at Fretted Americana.

Click here for the original listing.

For more stories about great guitars, please subscribe to The Fretboard Journal.